A MOTHER of four who was given a second chance to work at a West Byfleet van hire firm after she fiddled the accounts has admitted to defrauding the company for a second time.

Julia Barry, 57, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by abuse of position at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday after stealing £34,000 from Roman Truck and Van Rental in the Wintersells Road Industrial Estate.

Barry - who lives in a £400,000 detached home in West Horsley - was first employed there in 2007 but was asked to leave after it emerged she had been paying herself twice from the company’s bank account.

Prosecutor William Saunders told the court: “The defendant began working for them as an accounts manager and clerk in 2005.

“She was in a position of trust insofar as she had access to the company’s bank account and was responsible for payments and preparing cheques for payments and that sort of thing.

“In March 2007, she was invited to leave because she had been paying herself twice during certain months.

“They took her back on a short term contract and then hired her full time.”

Mr Saunders then explained: “In 2008, HSBC spotted something that they thought was an irregularity and contacted the company.

“The defendant was confronted in September 2008 and at that stage she acknowledged her wrongdoing.”

He added that Barry had since repaid £4,000 to the company.

“But that £4,000 was a gross underestimate of what had been going on,” claimed Mr Saunders.

“A more detailed examination of the company accounts revealed a much grander amount.”

Change of plea

According to Mr Saunders, Barry had been writing cheques to herself.

“Cheques were being presented to the directors who duly signed them and the names on the cheques were then changed,” he said.

Between January 1 and September 30 in 2008, Barry paid 33 cheques into her own account, totalling £27,396.13.

During the same period Barry also stole £6,467.14 from the company in bank transactions.

She was due to stand trial for three counts of fraud by abuse of position on Monday but changed her plea to guilty on Tuesday after her defence barrister Jamie Hamilton requested a one-day adjournment to advise his client.

The third count of fraud will remain on file.

Mr Hamilton explained to Judge Christopher Critchlow that Barry had two teenage children who live with her at the family home and two adult children.

Her sentencing has been adjourned until June 25 once her son has finished his GCSEs.